What a great night! We did 985 pounds of clean laundry for 16 families! The best volunteers anyone could ever hope for!!! The most incredible community any person would be lucky to call theirs. A visit from a National Guard friend who brought food boxes donated from another police department, a City Council member stopped by to say hi and see what all the fuss was about, then Santa and Mrs. Claus surprised all the kids who sat on Santa's lap and shared their biggest Christmas wishes with the sweetest jolly old fella.🎅 Thank you to Cowboy Coffee, who donated warm drinks.
People showed up to give, to help, to serve and to love. We hear countless encouraging stories tonight at the mat! Volunteers show up and go above and beyond in ways that leave me speechless (which is hard to do), and neighbors are becoming friends. I wish we could afford to help more than once a month because the need is great and I just love seeing these faces. My kids, their kids, and Cowboy Coffee' s delicious donation of hot cocoa that kept those kids happy happy happy!
I felt like a spinning top constantly turning and watching and meeting and greeting and punching quarters and listening to people's stories or having kids with the best manners ever do such sweet and polite things that made me tear up. Familiar faces, new faces, but all friendly and so happy to engage and be served and loved.
One conversation tonight was such a great reminder that it's not always true when you hear "if something is too good to be true it probably is"... sometimes it really is true, with no motive or agenda but to love and give clean clothes. What is so beautiful to watch is how so many being given to WANT to give back in one way or another and they do. One family was so excited for a food box. One couple was so excited to have a free shower pass. Can you imagine just one shower every very so often?
The incredible impact that THIS, that ALL OF YOU are giving to, cheering on, witnessing, sacrificing for is so powerful and building a better community! And our volunteers....I just cannot tell you what a privilege and honor it is to serve with each and every one of these volunteers. One volunteer came barreling through the door tonight asking if one of our favorite neighbors was there because they had a gift for that neighbor and were desperate to get it to them. The eagerness to serve, the enthusiasm in that laundromat is so strong and this is what community is about my friends! Serving others, providing clean laundry and building community relationships is what LoveOne is all about! Thank you! From the bottom of my heart, I am so thankful for you LoveOne Molalla.
Faithfully yours,
Sarah